Special Coverage

The re-formulation involves explicit filtering of the conservation equations.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
To validate simulations, one must trust that they are independent of the numerical aspects. A very promising, relatively new methodology for simulating turbulent flows, called Large Eddy Simulation (LES), has some issues in this respect. The issues stem from the aspect that modeling and numerics are totally intertwined, resulting in the fact that the results are grid-dependent and discretization-order-dependent. These issues were described in the preceding article. These issues prevent LES validation with experiments since one can always make adjustments to agree with data, which is not validation.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Mars lander spacecraft, beginning with Mars Pathfinder (MPF), have been designed to tolerate flight computer resets during the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase despite having only a single flight computer. This capability was enabled by a predictable, non-dynamic EDL architecture. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft has a highly dynamic EDL architecture as well as dual flight computers, adding more complexity to EDL flight software fault tolerance.

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
InvestigationOrganizer (IO) is a Web-based information system that integrates the generic functionality of a database, a document repository, a semantic hyper-media browser, and a rule-based inference system with specialized modeling and visualization functionality to support mishap investigations. The semantic hypermedia component includes a customizable ontology that specifies various types of items (people, places, events, causes, systems, and associated information products) relevant to mishap investigations. The ontology also describes important properties of each item type, and details the potential relationships among items.

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
The invention is a TecPlot macro, which is a computer program in the TecPlot programming language that processes CFD (computational fluid dynamics) solutions in TecPlot format. The TecPlot data is in SI units (International System of Units) [same as CFD solutions]. This invention converts the SI units into U.S. customary units.

The technologies NASA develops don’t just blast off into space. They also improve our lives here on Earth. Life-saving search-and-rescue tools, implantable medical devices, advances in commercial aircraft safety, increased accuracy in weather forecasting, and the miniature cameras in our cellphones are just some of the examples of NASA-developed technology used in products today.

Streamlined aircraft bodies, quieter jet engines, techniques for preventing icing, drag-reducing winglets, lightweight composite structures, and so much more are an everyday part of flying thanks to NASA research that traces its origins back to the earliest days of aviation.

“Be patient, if you want to see the concrete benefits of space research. I am confident that the benefits are there. We at NASA have been given a big job— planning and executing the nation’s civilian space program. But I would first like to dispose of a question that is asked of me quite often: Why venture at all into the unknown, towards the Moon, the planets, and then towards the stars so far beyond? One answer was given by Tsiolkowsky, the 19th century scientist who Russia considers the grandfather of space. It was that the Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot live forever in a cradle.”

Question of the Week

This week's Question: This month, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed long-awaited rules on the commercial use of small drones, requiring operators to be certified, fly only during daylight, and keep their aircraft in sight. The ruling,...